Unveiling, Plaque Presentation & Reception
SPOTA MOSAIC & PLACES THAT MATTER
Saturday November 3
3:30pm – 4pm Unveiling & Plaque Presentation
Walter and Mary Lee Chan House, sidewalk 658 Keefer
4pm -5pm Reception
Strathcona Community Centre, 601 Keefer
Urban renewal – the City’s vision circa 1958 – was a major and drastic overhaul of what the city would be. One of the major thrusts of this plan was to put a freeway through the city that would destroy the neighbourhood in Vancouver’s East End (later known as Strathcona).
In 1968 after close to a decade of opposing the changes, the Strathcona Property Owners and Tenants Association (SPOTA) was formalized and the neighbourhood had a voice. It was heard both locally and nationally, and a movement was born that resulted in a new way of thinking in respect to urban “social” planning.
The SPOTA Mosaic pays tribute to the founding members and supporters of SPOTA. The concept of a permanent legacy to honour those who fought to stop the freeway was originally conceived during the Downtown Eastside Public Realm Arts Plan process (Richard Evans, Terry Hunter, Carmen Rosen). This mosaic and location was conceived and developed by long-time Strathcona resident Esther Rausenberg, designed by Richard Tetrault, and created by Richard Tetrault and Jerry Whitehead. The project is an initiative of the Community Arts Council of Vancouver – Creative Pathways project, with support from the City of Vancouver Great Beginnings Program.
Also being placed is a Vancouver Heritage Foundation Places That Matter plaque to recognize the home of Walter and Mary Chan, community members who led the fight against the freeway. For more information about the plaque project:http://www.vancouverheritagefoundation.org
Reception to follow at 4pm at the Strathcona Community Centre. Free

This event was on Day 11 of the 12 Days of the Heart of the City Festival. Please check the website for more events!

The Festival is thrilled to partner with the DTES’s AHA Media to provide social media coverage (video/photos/blog) of the Heart of the City Festival. AHA Media gives voice to our local community and provides services for individuals and organizations to share their news and special events on a broader scale through social media. Founded in 2008 by local artists April Smith, Hendrik Beune, and Al Tkatch, AHA Media previously collaborated with Fearless City Media and has an ongoing working relationship with W2Community Media Arts and various other organizations and individuals in the DTES community. The members of AHA Media describe themselves as “definitely not mainstream media”. Based in Vancouver’s DTES, their style is described as non-invasive and unassuming.

Say Hello to AHA Media as they visit the Festival events. They will be happy to chat with you. Stay connected to the festival with AHA’s links – see photos/videos of the festival events you attended; take in a festival event you missed; or follow one festival event while you are attending another!

Panel
OPENING THE TREASURE BOX: A Panel of Historians
Saturday October 27, 4pm – 6pm
Chapel Arts, 304 Dunlevy
An exciting opportunity to meet and pose questions to a number of the historians who live, share and celebrate the storied and rich history of the Downtown Eastside. Our panel of history treasure hunters features: James Johnstone, house history researcher and heritage activist; John Atkin, author and civic historian; Lani Russwurm, writer and Vancouver history blogger; Larry Wong, enthusiastic historian and writer born in Chinatown; Kat Norris, Coast Salish activist and community leader; and Grace Eiko Thomson, freelance curator and respected Japanese Canadian elder. Houses, rumours, streets, labour strife, ancestors, and community successes are just some of the fascinating topics in the neighbourhood treasure box of DTES history. Free

This event was on Day 4 of the 12 Days of the Heart of the City Festival. Please check the website for more events!

The Festival is thrilled to partner with the DTES’s AHA Media to provide social media coverage (video/photos/blog) of the Heart of the City Festival. AHA Media gives voice to our local community and provides services for individuals and organizations to share their news and special events on a broader scale through social media. Founded in 2008 by local artists April Smith, Hendrik Beune, and Al Tkatch, AHA Media previously collaborated with Fearless City Media and has an ongoing working relationship with W2Community Media Arts and various other organizations and individuals in the DTES community. The members of AHA Media describe themselves as “definitely not mainstream media”. Based in Vancouver’s DTES, their style is described as non-invasive and unassuming.

Say Hello to AHA Media as they visit the Festival events. They will be happy to chat with you. Stay connected to the festival with AHA’s links – see photos/videos of the festival events you attended; take in a festival event you missed; or follow one festival event while you are attending another!

AHA MEDIA is very proud to help announce Two East End History Walking Tours led by James Johnstone in Strathcona, Vancouver from 10:00am – 4:30pm on Saturday March 6, 2010

Come out and enjoy a two hour walk through Vancouver’s Historic East End. It promises to be a sunny day and the daffodils, cherry blossoms, and daphne odorata will be in full bloom. This Saturday, March 6th, I will be offering two departures of my East End Neighbourhood History Walking Tour, one at 10am and the other at 2pm.

My route, first offered on August 15th to an oversold crowd of 44 people, is the culmination of years of researching over 250 homes in the East End. Although architecture is a minor theme in the tour, my focus is more on the social history—the ebb and flow of different waves of immigrants who established themselves here before moving on to other parts of the city. Most people know about Little Italy, Hogan’s Alley, the East End’s early Jewish Community, and Japantown, but did you know that there were whole blocks of Newfoundlanders and a sizable Syrian colony here as well in the early 1900s?

The tour touches on the impact and influences of portside industries (BC Sugar, shipyards, etc.) prohibition, (the proliferation of bootlegging), the Oriental Exclusion Act (bachelor rooming houses, etc.), the Japanese Canadian internment, as well as the City Planning Department’s attempts to wipe out “urban blight”. It also gives participants the chance to see the locations of the previous homes of well-known East End residents, like pioneer female aviator Tosca Trasolini, premier Dave Barrett, champion boxers Jimmy McLarnin and Felice Di Palma (Di Palma boxed under the name Phil Palmer), Rabbi Nathan Meyer Pastinsky, award-winning authors Paul Yee and Wayson Choy, Ross and Nora Hendrix (Jimi’s grandparents), community activists Mary Lee Chan and Shirley Chan, and BC Supreme Court Judge, community leader Angelo Branca, and k.d. lang.

The Next Tours are scheduled to depart at

10am and
2pm

Saturday, March 6th from in front of the Heatley Block at East Hastings & Heatley Avenue (696 East Hastings).

People interested in coming along are encouraged to reserve a space by e-mailing me at househistorian@yahoo.ca.